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moon walking in brightness,' without being se-
duced to the adoration of aught but the great
Creator of the universe. And the Psalmist, from
a view of the nocturnal heavens, expresses himself
in the most reverential language of astonishment.
and humility: When I consider the heavens, the
work of thy fingers; the moon and the stars, which
thou hast ordained; what is man that thou art
mindful of him, und the son of man that thou
visitest him?-Nor must we omit to mention
again the wise Son of Sirach, although his writings
are not admitted into the sacred canon: The
Lord made the moon also to serve in her season, for
a declaration of times, and a sign of the world.
From the moon is the sign of feasts, a light de-
creaseth in her perfection. The month is called
after her name, increasing wonderfully in her chang-
ing, being the instrument of the armies above, shining
in the firmament of heaven; the beauty of heaven,
the glory of the stars, an ornament giving light to
the highest places of the Lord. At the command of
the Holy One they will stand in their order, and
never faint in their watches.'-This is paraphrased
with great elegance and spirit by Mr. Broome, the
honoured and not unequal coadjutor of Pope, in
his poetical version of the Odyssey:

By Thy command the Moon, as daylight fades,
Lifts her broad circle in the deep'ning shades;
Arrayed in glory, and enthroned in light,
She breaks the solemn terrors of the night;
Sweetly inconstant in her varying flame,
She changes still, another, yet the same!
Now in decrease, by slow degrees she shrouds
Her fading lustre in a veil of clouds;

Now of increase, her gathering beams display
A blaze of light, and give a paler day;
Ten thousand stars adorn her glittering train,
Fall when she falls, and rise with her again;
And o'er the deserts of the sky unfold
Their burning spangles of sidereal gold:

Through the wide heavens she moves serenely bright,
Queen of the gay attendants of the night;
Orb above orb in sweet confusion lies,

And with a bright disorder paints the skies.

But this noble subject is not monopolized by the poets: it affords ample room for inquiry to the Contemplative Philosopher. Of all the celestial orbs, the Moon, next to the Sun, has the most beneficial influence upon our globe. And if her beautiful appearance in the skies, with such regular and constant variations, were insufficient to attract our attention, she would at least inspire us with the warmest sentiments of gratitude and adoration toward the beneficent Being, who has formed and stationed her in such a manner, as to be productive of the most signal advantages to the Earth.

By the naked eye we can discover many of the most remarkable phenomena that distinguish the Moon from the innumerable orbs around her. We find her to be only a secondary planet, or attendant upon the Earth, revolving round it, from change to change, in twenty-nine days, twelve hours, and forty-four minutes, and accompanying its circuit round the Sun in the space of our year. Her diameter is 2180 miles, and her distance from the centre of the earth 240,000. She goes round her orbit in twenty-seven days, seven hours, and fortythree minutes, moving at the rate of 2290 miles every hour; and she turns round her axis exactly in the same time that she revolves round the Earth, which is the reason of her keeping always the same side toward us, and that her day and night, taken together, is as long as our lunar month.

The Moon, like the Earth, is an orbicular and opaque body, which shines only by reflecting the Sun's light. While that half of her, therefore, which is toward the Sun, is illuminated, the other half is dark and invisible. Hence, she disappears

when she comes between the Earth and the Sun: because her dark side is then toward us. When she is gone somewhat forward, we see a little of her enlightened side, which still increases to our view, as she advances forward, until she comes to be opposite the Sun, where her entire enlightened side is toward the Earth, and she appears with a full illuminated orb, which we call the Full Moon; her dark side being then turned away from the Earth. From the full she decreases gradually as she proceeds through the other half of her course; showing us less and less of her bright side every day, till her next change or conjunction with the Sun, and then she disappears as before.. These different appearances having been observed by Endymion, an ancient Grecian, who watched her motions, it gave rise to the fable of Diana falling in love with him..

These different appearances of the Moon, which we call her Phases, are sufficient to demonstrate, that she shines not only by any light of her own; for otherwise, as her form is spherical, we should always behold her, like the Sun, with a full orb..

Philosophers, moreover, have observed, that one half of the Moon has no darkness at all; the Earth constantly affording it a strong light, in the absence of the Sun; while the other half has alternately a fortnight's darkness and a fortnight's light.. Our Earth serves as a moon. to the Moon, waxing and waning regularly, but appearing thirteen times as large, and affording her thirteen times as much light as she does to us. When she changes to us, the Earth appears full to her; when she is in her first quarter to us, the Earth is in its third quarter to her; and vice versa..

The Moon has no visible atmosphere, of any den-sity, surrounding her, as we have; for if she had we

could never see her edge so well defined as it appears; but there would be a sort of mist or haziness about her, which would make the stars look fainter when they are seen through it'. But it has been proved by observation, that the stars which disappear behind the Moon, retain their full lustre, until they seem to touch her very edge, when they vanish in an instant. Nor can there be any seas in the Moon; for if there were, she could have no clouds, nor rains nor storms as we have; because she has no such atmosphere to support the vapours which occasion them. And it is apparent to all, that when the Moon is above our horizon in the night-time, she is visible, unless the clouds of our atmosphere hide her from our view; and every part of her appears constantly with the same serene and unclouded aspect. Those dark parts of the Moon, which were formerly thought to be seas, are now found to be only vast and deep cavities, and places which reflect not the light of the Sun so strongly as others. For, by observations through the telescope, the Moon has been found to be full of high mountains and deep vallies; and some of

The reasoning above given in the text is not quite correct. Melanderhialem has found theoretically, and Schroeter by his observations, that the refracting power of the Moon's atmosphere is only about a twenty-ninth part of that of the Earth's. And as the height of the inferior strata of the air which are dense enough to break the rays of light in a manner perceptible to us, does not exceed 648 yards, an altitude equivalent to less than twofifths of a second of space; the weakening of the light cannot occur more than a quarter of a second of time before the star is hid behind the moon: and such a short interval must, of necessity, escape the notice of common observers, Schroeter, however, has noticed it, and farther records many observations upon lunar mountains, volcanoes, scas, &c.; for which see his Selenotopographical Fragments,' or the article Moon in vol. viii, of the PANTOLOGIA.

these mountains, by comparing their height with the diameter of the Moon, are found to be three times higher than the highest hills upon our Earth.

Such are the principal phenomena that distinguish this beautiful luminary. And if we advert to the signal benefits of which it is productive to our globe, we can never be sufficiently grateful to the omnipotent Creator, who in this, as well as in all his works, has displayed infinite wisdom and inexhaustible goodness. How cheerless and uncomfortable would be our nights, but for the constant returns of light, which this our sister orb, our faithful and inseparable companion, dispenses in such agreeable vicissitude! How highly useful are even her eclipses, in our atmospherical, geographical, and chronological calculations! How salutary too is her attractive influence, which sways the ocean, and actuates the world of waters; which swells the tides, and perpetuates the regular returns of ebb and flow; and which thus not only preserves the liquid element itself from putrefaction, but the surrounding continents, in course, from infection and disease". I will not here urge those sentiments of devotion, those grand and august conceptions, which this subject has a tendency to inspire. Yet not wholly to conclude this paper without a moral, I will just intimate to my fair readers, that Mr. Pope, from the mild and serene appearance of the Moon, contrasted with the dazzling brightness of the Sun, exhibits a beautiful comparison, and a portrait, not less beautiful, of an estimable woman. This, I am persuaded, will inculcate a lesson, which, if properly attended to by the fair, cannot fail to heighten and perpetuate every charm:

Ah! friend, to dazzle let the vain design;

To raise the thought, and touch the heart be thine;

'On the probability of the Moon being inhabited, see No. XLIII, on the Sun.